


Partners

by coeurastronaute



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 15:32:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15489000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coeurastronaute/pseuds/coeurastronaute
Summary: Supercorp AU Lena as a DEO agent before Kara comes out as Supergirl & they meet via working cases together for the DEO.





	Partners

Like the rest of the world before dawn, the laboratory on the fifth basement level of the DEO headquarters was still relatively asleep and peaceful. Deep in the sterile tomb, everything was steel and glass, clean corners and not an ounce of trash or anything out of place. It was orderly and pristine and smelling of antiseptic and bleach.

“Morning, Tom,” Jess greeted the guard that kept the top secret lab, top secret.

She juggled the two coffee cups and dug in her pocket for her badge before letting him scan and moving her eye for the retina scan.

“Good morning, lovely Jess,” the old, cheerful guard greeted her.

While to some he was nothing more than a grumpy, trigger happy, protocol-loving, veteran with a strict adherence to the rules of the base, to the handful of scientists inside the deepest parts of the secret agency, he was sweet as could be.

Hair leaning a bit more toward grey than black, eyes gleaming and just slits where blue peaked out, the guard had a crooked nose and high cheeks, and he kept his cheeks freshly shaven and his uniform pressed nice and stiff, despite already having over a decade logged behind the desk and never letting that make his work suffer.

He was a staple to them.

“How late was she here until?” she asked, turning around and pushing through the newly buzzed door.

“I don’t think she left.”

“What are we going to do with her?”

“I just watch the door,” he smiled. “You and Dr. Luthor figure out the hard stuff.”

“Have a good one, Tom,” Jess chuckled and tossed over her shoulder as she disappeared down the hall toward the bulk of the labs and her and her boss’ office.

It wasn’t often that Jess wasn’t one of the first people in the lab. She had the most demanding boss, the actual Director of Research and Scientific Discovery, and thus that meant she had a more rigorous set of guiding principles and assessments. It also meant that much of her job was spent managing said Director, which in turn meant being ahead of her moods and whims and brain. A feat not easily conquered by the faint of heart.

While the lab was scoured and awfully clean and drab, their office was somewhat more inhabited by humans. The walls had bookshelves with journals and artifacts and degrees and plants, while the large desk now had a sleeping woman folded over it.

Even as she walked through the lab filled with microscopes and large monitors, Jess scoped out a sleeping Lena Luthor and shook her head, disappointed that the promise to make her way home for the night had been ignored.

She debated waking her boss at all. Odds were, she only fell asleep about an hour ago after pouring over some numbers that could have waited until the morning. Odds were, she should have gone home and grabbed some actual sleep. Odds were, she’d be cranky.

So, unabashedly, the assistant allowed herself a little time to get the morning started without the interruption of a certain genius. Sometimes, life was just easier that way.

For another hour, Jess sipped her coffee and responded to emails, downloaded the newest articles to her boss’ tablet, and went about sorting the tasks of the day. Her list of tasks would never get done, and that was on a good, stress-free week. But Lena had her teeth in something, and that meant nothing else mattered.

Recruited while still getting her doctorate, or rather, her third, Lena took right to her job at the DEO, snagging the director’s position at a young age, and despite her assistant’s best attempts, she grew very old, very quickly. Not so much in body and mind, but rather habits. She’d never find anyone if she never left the DEO basement. Jess said those words so much, she was thinking of just having a recording made that she could play whenever she–

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

The alarm echoed throughout the building, blaring and echoing its deafening assault to warn of something.

“Jess!” Lena jolted awake, looking around very confused and alarmed.

Yanked from sleep so suddenly, Lena looked around for something, her heart beating wildly in her chest, her brain catching up as quickly as it could despite the cold start, and still, the warning alarms and strobe lights methodically screamed and blared.

“What time is… When did… What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure,” Jess shook her head, clasping her hands over her ears as she shouted across the room toward her boss. “What does your tablet say?”

Before Jess finished, Lena was already picking up the device and scrolling and opening. But before the assistant could follow up, she dropped the tablet and quickly moved from around the desk.

“Prep the trauma room and tell Ramirez and Patel to go to receiving and collect whatever artifact did all of this. They’re bringing it in now. I want it in my lab immediately.”

Lena tied up her hair and hurried toward the elevator.

“Lena, what’s going on?” Jess asked as she followed and jotted notes despite the noise.

“It’s Supergirl.”

With a grave look, Lena set her jaw and hit the button, the elevator door closing immediately, leaving Jess stuck, standing amidst the chaos only to realize that there was more chaos about to arrive.

* * *

Each floor that the elevator passed dinged in a steady rhythm as it approached the top floor of the headquarters. Lena finished pulling up her hair and rolled her head around, stretching the sore, stiff muscles of her neck and shoulders. She grunted slightly as she rubbed a joint that certainly hadn’t enjoyed her impromptu desk nap.

“Just keep cool,” she muttered to herself, steadying her mind for what was to come. “It’s only one of Earth’s greatest heroes. And it could be nothing. Could be a test.”

That helped, a little. But the elevator kept climbing, and Lena let the nerves back in.

It was difficult not to. Fresh from Metropolis, Lena hadn’t fully unpacked her apartment, let alone figured out everything she’d be doing as Director. She hadn’t even met Supergirl, or really anyone other than her department in her first few months of work. She just dove right in, eager to help, and excited to learn.

And now alarms were singing and she still wasn’t quite sure what time or day it was, and she was almost certain the alarm meant that Supergirl was hurt.

“Or you’re about to let a hero die,” she remembered as soon as the lift came to a stop and the doors opened, once again bringing up her nerves in full force.

That was her peptalk as she thrust herself into the forray. Everyone was running around, orders were being barked out, and it was still before dawn, Lena realized, finally finding her way to a window.

“Thank you for getting here so quickly, Dr. Luthor,” the director of the entire agency greeted her, his face long and solemn as he walked past her statuesque figure.

Quickly, Lena skipped to behind him.

“Is it really Supergirl?”

“I don’t know much, except someone has come in contact with a new substance that seems to coincide with an alien we’ve been after.”

In the flurry of activity, Lena stood her ground and waited for everything to start, but once it did she lost her anxiety an let her brain take over.

Lifeless and limp, Supergirl’s body was brought to the prepared gurney while a hundred different voices began to explain things. Lena ignored them, lifting the hero’s eyelids and tracking movement with her flashlight.

She had a doctorate in biology, astrophysics, and chemistry, and never did she expect she’d be working on Supergirl. But she did. She quieted the crowd in a forceful way and took Supergirl to her lab, eager to isolate whatever drug or chemical was doing this to her.

Behind her, she listened to the director telling the other agents that it was under control, and to begin the real work of figuring out what was going on, that the world still continued and their job existed before Supergirl.

As the doors closed, Lena looked down at the helpless person on the bed and gulped, wondering how true it was.

“If you could not die before I figure this out, I’d appreciate it,” she mumbled.

* * *

The people came and went, never lingering for as long as they wanted, and instead forcing themselves to carry on with their work. Lena checked vitals and waited for the sunlamp to do its thing as she ran tests on the chemical and weapon brought back to her lab.

Slow, tedious work was her favorite kind. It kept her hands and mind busy, and the quiet was a welcome distraction from the pressure of saving Supergirl.

So involved with her work did Lena find herself, that she didn’t notice, at first, the waking of the hero. She sat right beside the bed and jotted notes down as results came back from her tests, but she didn’t notice movement until Supergirl coughed and grunted against the pain.

“I don’t have my powers,” she whispered, looking around the room as she got Lena’s attention.

“How are you feeling?” the doctor asked, quickly putting her things down and once again shining a light in the hero’s eyes. “You took quite a beating, but the sun lamps are helping with the healing.”

“I don’t have my powers.”

“They will be back within the next day or two. I’m running tests on the chemical you were attacked with, but without knowing the proper dosage, I’m not sure…”

Lena trailed off as she stopped fidgeting with the patient and met Supergirl’s curious glance. Furrowed brow and proud chin, the hero stared back at Lena as if she were the alien. The doctor felt her cheeks heat up under the intense scrutiny.

“I don’t know you.”

“Right, sorry,” Lena gulped and looked away. “Not much of a reason for you to come down to the lab, I guess.”

“Usually I’m out there.”

“I know,” she smiled before taking a big breath. “I’m Lena Luthor. Dr. Lena Luthor. I just transferred over to run the research and development division.”

“Transferred?”

“From Metropolis. I did my first few years working with–”

“My cousin,” Supergirl nodded and tried to sit up, though her body had other things to say about that.

Lena helped adjust the bed and the lamps as she continued.

“The new stealth capabilities and early detection systems were some of my projects. Got me shortlisted for this position, and then it opened–”

“You’re young. The last guy was like… old.”

“Probably why he retired.”

Supergirl snorted to herself as she smiled and nodded. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, both as Lena did some diagnostic work with the machines and as Supergirl flexed and tried to feel any of her power. When she failed again, she sighed and tried to sit up again, this time with a little more success. She watched the doctor move around the room, entering things into her tablet and looking altogether too studious.

Lena felt the eyes on her, and she felt oddly exposed because of it. But she couldn’t say anything to Supergirl, and she certain couldn’t look at her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself sooner,” Supergirl finally spoke up. “I should get better at knowing who I’m working with.”

“You’re a busy woman. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“Sit back and stop fidgeting with the wires,” Lena shook her head as she earned a dopey smile from the patient. She found herself gently pushing very strong shoulders for someone who was no longer immortal.

“Let me start over,” Supergirl tried, sticking out her hand. “I’m Supergirl, and it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Lena,” she slowly took the hand that was offered to her, grateful to no longer be touching a supersuit and the muscles beneath it.

“I’m glad you joined our team.”

“Wait until you see the portal replicator I’ve been working on.”

Before she could say anything else, a handful of grateful agents joined the pair in the medical bay, and Lena shrunk slightly to the side. She only caught Supergirl’s eyes one more time before she was suddenly back to work, only then realizing that her facade had slipped into something akin to human.

* * *

In under two days it was all done. Powers returned, as promised, and thanks to Lena’s ingenius reworking of the alien tech, the culprits were apprehended, and all future endeavors into alienating Earth’s favorite alien were halted.

From her perch atop the old City Hall, Supergirl ate her take out and surveyed the city as the sun set and another day ended. With everything wrapping up, she let her mind wonder back to the girl she saw when she woke up without powers, and how she didn’t mind working with Dr. Luthor.

When she asked around about her, she only heard good things. People were amazed by how her mind worked and the things she did, and the diligence to which she put into her job. She took on responsibility and she worked to do her part in keeping the world safe. It was all exceptionally admirable.

And there was also the problem of her smile.

Kara shook her head and ate another egg roll before leaning back and scanning the city to keep her mind distracted.

 _“Hey, Supergirl, we have some more of that alien technology that has been cropping up on the black markets,”_ Alex came in over the comms.

“Yeah?”

_“Seems like something our Research team should investigate.”_

Her ears perked up slightly.

“I’ll be right there. I should work this case. This is dangerous stuff,” Supergirl decided, shoving food into her mouth and dusting her hands off on her pants as she quickly stood, preparing to push off as she fumbled to gather her trash.

_“I’m sure they can handle it, I just wanted to give you a hea–”_

“No, no, I’ll help. All quiet here,” she insisted.

 _“Quite an interest you’ve taken in research,”_ her sister teased.

“It’s dangerous technology that I’ve never seen before. I need to be prepared for–”

 _“Yawn,”_ Alex feigned. _“I’m going to head over to the labs and just drop this stuff off.”_

“No! I’ll do it!” Supergirl insisted rushing off as quickly as she could.

_“You’re a mess.”_

“Shut up.”

* * *

Tired and a little sore, Lena stretched her neck and let out a tiny, unsatisfied groan at the resulting creaks and groans her bones made. With a sigh, she leaned forward on her desk and rubbed some of the tension with her fingers, digging into her neck in hopes of relaxing.

Long since gone, Jess left dinner sitting on her bosses desk, which mean it was half-eaten and pushed to the side in favor of more reports. They weren’t even fun ones. If anyone had told Lena that as Director of a department her job would entail lots of budgets, she would have declined swiftly.

That was almost true, she smiled to herself as she sat back in her chair. She was a fan of challenges.

Before she could jump back in to more proposals, Lena caught a movement out in the lab. She shifted as a familiar stock of blonde hair peaked around, weaving through the lab and looking into offices.

“Hello?”

The person who turned around wasn’t Supergirl though. She had the same color hair, and the same kind of face and jaw and when their eyes locked, there was the same blue–

“Sorry to barge in,” the agent managed, adjusting her glasses, pushing them up over the familiar blue that made Lena cock her head and stare. “I just… I didn’t expect anyone.” She cleared her throat. “I’m here to check on the results from the black market technology.”

“I didn’t expect anyone to be on this until the morning, Agent…”

“Danvers,” she offered quickly. “Kara Danvers.”

“Have we met before?” Lena asked, staring at the new agent, the staunch, button up wearing agent who reminded her so much–

“No, no, I don’t– I just. You’re new, right?”

“You really remind me of someone.”

“Just one of those faces, I think,” Kara nodded, adjusting her glasses once again. “You might see more of me though. I’m assigned to the black market case.”

Lena just cocked her head and stared at the person standing in her office, not wanting to allow herself to believe the idea she just had.

“Shall we begin then, agent Danvers?”

An absolutely magnetic smile flashed across the relieved DEO agent’s face as she sat in the chair across from the Director of Research. Lena felt herself smile because that was all she could do with a smile like that.


End file.
